Hey Bill,
I think you're about to figure it out. Rep. Hargett can't remember how much "interviewing" he did with Pfizer during the last session, Committee members can't remember how they voted, the entire Republican membership of the Legislature were "entertained" by Pfizer, and the bill was approved. Evidence?? The State Legislature is exempt from the Sunshine Laws.
Tennesseans do not need anyone to point a finger of blame at one side or the other, as the Guilt belongs to the elected, the appointed and the lazy press. Blame is a waste of time or tomorrow's partisan spin.
Hargett gets a very cushy job and he knows all the secrets of the legislature. The puppet is now Puppeteer.
We residents all understand this, Bill. This is the normal state of the State.
We residents have had about all the Evidence we can stand.

Joe - the Tennessee Affordable Drug Act of 2005 was BAD for Pfizer. And it passed 93-0.

It was GOOD for the pharmacists of Tennessee. A pharmacist sponsored the bill and pushed it to passage.

Great work, Bill.

David Shepard is famous for pushing bills that would benefit his practice.

If Tre' wanted to register a vote against the bill, even if it was a voice vote, he could have gone to the clerk and been recorded as a "No." Obviously, he didn't, so by practical effect, he voted against the people he was supposedly courting for a job. Very unethical, huh?

You are almost there again, Bill!
You are right - the act did pass, but it was the only one of over a dozen bills addressing the high cost of prescription drugs in TN --
The "Affordable Drug Act" was but one item in the 60-some-odd pages of recommendations from the Comptroller's Report on Medication policies in Tennessee. Most every bill died quietly in committee votes, the ones no one remembers -- bills like getting TN to join with other states to negotiate for lower prices, or the reducing costs in the gold-plated drug plans for state employees, or discounts for the elderly in the state (cited in particular for the high cost to state government) or how about providing annual oversight of the effectiveness of TN's drug policies, and the doctor-supported policy to engage in Disease Management rather than the constant Crisis Intervention techniques used today??? None of these passed out of committees. And how about requiring pharmaceutical companies to report how much they spend on legislative entertaining??
Oh and of course NO laws to stop the revolving door from the Legislative to the Lobbying branch of government, which is why Rep. Hargett's actions are so questionable.
Pfizer may have lost one battle on the Hill, but the state's residents lost all the other ones.